It's Snowing. Do We Get the Day Off?

By

Sarah E. Needleman

Updated Feb. 7, 2011 10:02 a.m. ET

The morning after a blizzard last year, business owner
Bill Cramer
says a new employee sent an office-wide email complaining that there wasn't a company policy explaining what staffers should do if they couldn't make it in.

ENLARGE

Lennon Caruso (back) and his father, Frank Caruso (front), co-own Caruso Caruso, a retail business in Birmingham, Mich. The shop stays open regardless of the outdoor elements.
Jessie Heller

Now Wonderful Machine's 12 full-time employees know they can request to work from home when bad weather strikes. They're also aware that they can take up to two days off a month, one with pay and one without, for any reason. "I don't want to have people feel insecure about what's going on," says Mr. Cramer.

Human-resources and legal experts say companies of all sizes should have policies that explain if employees are required to come to work in stormy weather, whether they're allowed to do their jobs from home and if they'll be compensated should they simply be unable to perform. But some small-business chiefs say they've never bothered to create guidelines for snows days.

Caruso Caruso, a retail business in Birmingham, Mich., lacks a stormy-weather policy because it always stays open, regardless of how brutal a wrath Mother Nature dishes out, says co-owner Lennon Caruso. The shop's 15 employees have no excuse for failing to show up for a shift, he explains, because they all live within a reasonable driving distance and roads throughout the area are generally well-plowed after snow piles up. "It's 2011. You have a car, get to work," Mr. Caruso says.

Tips for Dealing With Snow Days

Before shutting down operations when stormy weather strikes, consider these alternatives, says Elaine Varelas, a managing at Keystone Partners, a provider of career-management services in Boston:

Prepare your staff. If tomorrow's weather forecast signals heavy snow, instruct employees to leave with materials so they can work from home.

Excuse tardiness. Allow employees to wait to come into work until after the weather clears up and roads are plowed.

Check overnight options. For critical staffers, covering the cost of a hotel stay may be a worthwhile investment. Research the best rates in advance.

At the Lu-Jean Feng Clinic in Pepper Pike, Ohio, employees are also expected to come in on snow days, even if local schools are closed, says
Linda Haas,
co-owner of the wellness and plastic surgery business. "They know we need them and they need to be here," she says. "The show must go on."

The clinic's 42 employees for the most part abide by the unwritten rule, and when whiteouts occur, some even voluntarily shovel the walkways leading to the facility before it opens at 6 a.m., adds Ms. Haas. "If you treat your people well, they're going to respond," she says.

Mr. Caruso and Ms. Haas both say their businesses tend to be busy on snow days, as consumers off from work use the free time to shop or schedule appointments. But for other business owners, staying open when severe storms take hold may be unnecessary.

ENLARGE

The Knowland Group's headquarters in McClean, Va., and its office in Salisbury, Md., above, stay open 365 days a year.
The Knowland Group

"It's not like customers are shopping for bed frames or mattresses" at such times, says Carmi Fredman, president of Glideaway Sleep Products, a 70-year-old manufacturer in St. Louis, Mo., with about 120 employees. For example, he says a blizzard that swept the area earlier this week has "affected everybody."

Business owners in most states who stay open during snow and other storms can legally fire employees who refuse to come in, says
Charles Caulkins,
a managing partner at Fisher & Phillips, a national labor law firm. An exception might be if a company has a policy or union contract that restricts at-will termination.

Owners also typically aren't liable if an employee gets into an accident while commuting to or from work in bad weather—unless the person traveled in a company vehicle, adds Mr. Caulkins.

Of course, it may be impractical – not to mention unethical – to sack employees who claim that commuting to their workplace during or immediately after a severe storm would be unsafe. For this reason, some business owners say they have instituted policies, or at least informal guidelines, indicating options and consequences for employees who don't feel comfortable moving about in foul weather.

ENLARGE

Employees at Wonderful Machine Inc. can request to work from home when bad weather strikes.
Allisyn Roscioli

Michael McKean,
founder and CEO of the Knowland Group, says the sales-outsourcing firm recently made a pledge to keep its headquarters in McClain, Va., and its office in Salisbury, Md., open 365 days a year. Previously, the center would close if the local county government shut down due to bad weather. "With all this snow, we said let's make changes to make sure we have people to answer the phones," Mr. McKean says.

At the same time, the company implemented a policy stating that the roughly 75 hourly employees who work in its call center won't be penalized if they refuse to show whenever a severe storm hits, says Mr. McKean. They just won't get paid. On the other hand, if those employees are willing to come in, they'll receive one hour of paid time off for every two hours they work during such times.

Mr. McKean says that despite the recent snowfall that's blanketed much of the nation, the Knowland Group hasn't yet needed to test the new plan. But he expects it to provide an incentive for staffers to make their way to work the next time a major blizzard pounds the area.

So far Mr. McKean says the company's employees appear to be in favor of the arrangement. "They get the whole customer service thing," he says.

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